The Wooden Bench
by happy29
Summary: Life moves on... even when you want it to stand still. Danno/Steve


The Wooden Bench

It's quiet here. Out in the country with the endless woods on either side of the beaten down dirt trail. We've been hiking for a while now, Steve and I and I hang back to take in the beautiful splendor of this place. We've been here countless times in the twenty years we've been together and each time, I'm taken aback by the serenity and peace this place offers.

Steve brought me here on our first wedding anniversary and every year since. Each time we slip on our hiking boots and take a long stroll through the woods. Our exploring of the various trails is not as adventurous as it was all those years ago when we first started coming here and our steps are quite a bit slower, but we enjoy our time together more today than we did our first time here. Maybe it's because we now know the place like we do the back of our own hands and it feels like an extension of home, or maybe it's because we've fallen more in love as each new day unfolds before us. Maybe it's because the third time here I got poison ivy and was miserable for the second half of our trip.

All I know is I love this place and the peace that it offers me. If it weren't for the restaurant and our ever growing family back home, I'd ask Steve to move here. We stay at the same bed and breakfast every time, the same room, and we get the same warm and gracious greeting from the owner's daughter as we did from her mother on our first stay there. This is our home away from home.

But our trip is different this year.

I finally catch up to Steve and he's settled in on an old wooden bench along the trail. I brush the fallen leaves to the side and watch with amusement as two squirrels chase each other up a tree behind the bench. Kinda reminds me of Steve and I after all these years together. Steve is oblivious to it all. I sit down beside him, collect his hand in mine and lock our fingers together.

"Remember our first time here?" I ask him as I brush my free hand over his flannel clad arm. He doesn't respond and I don't really expect him to. He doesn't say much these days. Today isn't going to be one of his good days. I'll just have to do the remembering for him. I let a smile pull on my lips as I watch him stare across the trail at another set of squirrels frolicking in the bushes. A chuckle escapes before I can stop it and he turns his head and looks at me like I've lost my mind too. "Yeah, Babe, that used to be us. We used to be all over each other like those squirrels. In our room, in the car, down by the lake…" I let my voice trail off as I flick a fallen leaf off Steve's leg. "On this very bench."

Steve stares at the bench and I can see him trying to work out what I'm telling him. He lets out a frustrated sigh when the memories remain locked away. I squeeze his hand, lean to the side and kiss his cheek, turn his head with my free hand and brush a kiss against his lips. "It's okay, Babe. I'll remember for you."

He smiles, amused as I tell stories of our days with 5-0 and I'm not sure he believes a one of them. I wouldn't believe them either if I weren't right there front and center with him. We sit for another hour and I talk and tell stories of our many trips to this bench. I tell him stories about our kids, Nahele, Gracie, and Charlie and of our grandkids. I tell him about the restaurant and how he helped make all my dreams come true. I tell the same stories over and over, hoping that one memory will be the key that unlocks my Steve.

He listens with intent but doesn't utter a word and that's okay. I still love him with every ounce of my being, even if he doesn't remember us or our life together. He is my everything.

'For better, for worse, In sickness and in health… I do.'

I take my wedding vows seriously.

I stand up, stretch out my back and knee and give a slight tug on Steve's elbow to encourage him to follow. It's getting late and we need to head back. He complies with ease and I stand on my tiptoes to plant a firm kiss to his lips.

"Happy anniversary, Steven McGarrett-Williams. I love you." I kiss him again and those butterflies still haven't left after all these years. I still see him behind those blue eyes that no longer recognize me. I take his hand in mine, intertwine our fingers and I can't tell where mine stop and his start. "Come on, Babe."

We walk in silence for a few moments when I feel him squeeze my hand. "Okay, Danno. Let's go."


End file.
